Next time you reach for that alcoholic beverage, check your medicine cabinet. Consuming alcohol with certain medications can be dangerous and downright deadly.

According to a new study by the National Institutes of Health, more than 40 percent of Americans who consume alcohol also take medications that may cause serious interactions such as nausea and vomiting, headaches, fainting internal bleeding, heart problems and difficulty breathing. In addition, mixing the two can render the medication less effective and even useless.

Hal Roe, a pharmacist and owner of five locally owned Health Mart Pharmacies, said he fears the problems is more common than we think, mostly because people do not realize they are putting themselves in harm.

Dustin Waters, a clinical pharmacist at McKay-Dee Hospital, said alcohol is a depressant, meaning it slows brain activity, and when used with other medications that depress the nervous system and brain it can cause the nervous system to become too inactive, leading to problems breathing, heart abnormalities and the inability to wake up. Also, alcohol is metabolized in the liver, which is also the same organ medications are metabolized.

Both pharmacists listed a few medications and the risks caused by mixing them with alcohol.

“Mixing alcohol and acetaminophen, the ingredient found in Tylenol and other pain relievers, can increase the risk of developing hepatotoxicity, or chemical-driven liver damage and even liver failure,” Roe said.

Last year, the Food and Drug Administration asked doctors to stop prescribing medications with more than 325 mg. of acetaminophen per dosage because of the increased risk of liver problems. Adding alcohol to the mix is like adding fuel to the fire. Waters said alcohol slows down the central nervous system. When combined with sleeping pills and narcotic pain relievers, a person can become profoundly sedated, can be difficult to wake up and can even slip into a coma or die.

“This is also part of the problem with pain medications because of the combination of acetaminophen with morphine derivatives. But it is also a reaction of the increased sedation and suppression of respiration that is a problem with any CNS depressant, which includes sleeping pills, anti-anxiety agents and morphine-derived pain medications,” Roe said. “People will take those medications and then start partying and it can be a harmful mix, causing them to possibly stop breathing, which is the cause of death in most overdoses.”

The same scenario hold true for mixing alcohol with anti-anxiety medications, said both pharmacists.

Some antibiotics such as metronidazole, also known as Flagyl, can increase your risk for side effects, and, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, drinking alcohol within 24 hours of taking the medication can cause potential life threatening reactions such as a rapid heart rate, blood pressure changes and liver damage. Roe said you shouldn’t consume alcohol up to three days after taking Flagyl.

Alcohol also causes problems with antidepressants and mood stabilizers. For instance, when consuming alcohol with Bupropion, also known as Wellbutrin, a person can experience black outs, confusion, a lowered alcohol tolerance, nausea and vomiting and seizures. Taking Wellbutrin and alcohol together can intensify the effects of both substances. Mixing alcohol with other antidepressants can cause an impaired ability of the brain to communicate with the rest of the body, and combining the two can also worsen the symptoms of depression.

Other medications that can interact with alcohol include those used to treat blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, birth control, ulcers and other mood disorders.

This is a partial risk of problems that can be caused from taking your medications with alcohol, Roe said, adding that it’s important to have a relationship with your pharmacist so you can ask the questions that are needed to maximize your own treatment but to also prevent harm from possible interactions, not only with alcohol but other things that we take into our bodies like vitamins and supplements.

“Your pharmacist is a wealth of knowledge that can help you to safely take your medications and to avoid possible problems whether drug interactions, side effects, when is best time to take medications, what to avoid with them. So ask you pharmacist,” Roe said.